Louisiana Eviction Laws: The Process & Timeline In 2023 (2024)

Louisiana eviction laws vary depending on which side of the state you’re in. Despite that, they all follow the same general eviction process:

• Send a clear written notice
• Fill out the forms
• Serve the tenant
• Attend the trial
• Wait for judgment

Every eviction process is different and dependent on the lease/rental agreement signed by the tenant and the landlord. It is always best to exercise meticulous file-keeping to avoid errors that the tenant could exploit.

This article details a summary for landlords to refer to when evicting a tenant. Confirm procedures with your local justice court to make sure the entire process goes as smoothly as possible.

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Now, let’s dive in.

Eviction Reasons

1. Failure to pay rent on time

Rent is usually considered late a day past its due date. A grace period may be available if stated in the lease/rental agreement.

Before a landlord can start the eviction process, they are required to give the tenant an official written notice. This notice informs the tenant when they are expected to vacate the property.

The length of time given to tenants depends on their lease/rental agreement. Some of the notices include a 5-Day Notice to Quit and a 20-Day Notice to Quit. See the table below for more information:

In the state of Louisiana, a landlord can legally refuse to accept late payment of rent and directly proceed with presenting a notice to quit.

If the tenant has not moved out by the end of their notice period, the landlord can proceed with the eviction process.

2. Violation of the lease/rental agreement

The rental lease agreement has to be upheld by both tenant and landlord for the entire duration of the tenant’s stay. Agreements may vary from tenant to tenant.

If a tenant violates any terms from the lease agreement, the landlord must issue a 5-Day Notice to Quit.

Lease violations may include:

• Damaging rental property
• Conducting illegal activity
• Smoking in non-smoking areas
• Keeping pets in pet-free properties, etc.
• Disturbing the other tenants with loud activity

Landlords are not legally obligated to allow the tenant to resolve the violation before presenting them with the notice to quit.

3. Non-renewal of the lease after the rental period ends

In Louisiana, landlords cannot evict a tenant or force them to vacate the property without probable cause. As long as the tenant does not violate any rules, they can stay until their rental period ends.

Outlined below is how long of a notice period a landlord should give a tenant, depending on the type of tenancy. The notices range from a 5-Day Notice to Quit, a 10-Day Notice to Quit, and a 30-Day Notice to Quit.

If the tenant does not vacate the premises after their allotted time, the landlord can continue filing for eviction.

If you want your own Louisiana lease agreement, head over to DoorLoop's Forms Page to download your very own template.

Filing a Complaint

1. How to File a Complaint

The eviction process can only begin after the issuance of the Notice to Vacate. The landlord must have allowed enough time to pass before filing for eviction.

The eviction process is as follows:

1. Proceed to the justice court the rental property belongs to
2. File a complaint
3. Pay the fees

Filing fees may cost the landlord about $150. If they request for a Writ of Possession, they need to pay another $225.

2. Timeline

It takes about 5 to 30 days from the issuance of the Notice to Quit, depending on the reason for eviction and the lease agreement.

<table style="width:100%"><tr><th>Type of Agreement</th><th>Explanation</th><th>Notice to Receive </th></tr><tr><td>Written</td><td>A set of documents was signed by the landlord and tenant detailing each side’s responsibilities and conditions</td><td>5-Day Notice to Quit</td></tr><tr><td>Verbal</td><td>An oral agreement between the landlord and the tenant with no written documents to support their claims</td><td>20-Day Notice to Quit</td></tr></table>

Notice to Comply

Before filing for an eviction with the court, you need to issue the tenant a notice to comply. You can either download the free PDF or Word template, or create your Louisiana eviction notice from here using a step-by-step wizard that guides you through the entire process to make sure you are submitting the legally correct notice.

Keep in mind, the step-by-step wizard will ask you to pay a small fee at the end - it's a small price to pay to ensure legal compliance and protection. The last thing you want is to go to court only to find out you did the first process incorrect.

Serving the Tenant

1. How to Serve a Tenant

The sheriff or constable is tasked with serving the Rule for Possession to the tenant. It has to be served at least 2 days before the hearing is scheduled.

There are several methods to accomplish this:

• Personal Service: The sheriff/constable delivers the Rule for Possession to the tenant in person
• Posting: When using this method, the sheriff/constable leaves a copy of the documents for the tenant. It is placed in a secure and visible position by the entrance of the tenant’s rented property.
• Mailing: Only applicable for residents living in New Orleans

Landlords are not allowed to serve the tenant themselves.

2. After Serving the Rule for Possession

An eviction hearing happens at least 3 days after the sheriff/constable was able to serve the documents to the tenant.

3. Timeline

The documents should be served to the tenant at least 2 days before the hearing.

The eviction hearing happens at least 3 days after the documents are served to the tenant.

To learn more about Louisiana's landlord-tenant laws, head over to DoorLoop's Complete Guide to Louisiana's Landlord-Tenant Laws for an in-depth guide.

<table style="width:100%"><tr><th>Lease Agreement</th><th>Notice to Receive</th></tr><tr><td>1 week – less than 1 month</td><td>5-Day Notice to Quit</td></tr><tr><td>Monthly </td><td>10-Day Notice to Quit</td></tr><tr><td>Longer than 1 month</td><td>30-Day Notice to Quit</td></tr></table>

Asking for Possession

1. Filing a Motion to Obtain Judgement and get a Judgement for Possession

The landlord has to provide a strong argument backed up by solid evidence against the tenant. If the tenant does not show up to the hearing, the landlord wins by default.

2. Next procedure if the tenant disagreed and replied

In the state of Louisiana, a reply from the tenant is not necessary for a court date to be scheduled. They only have to show up to the hearing.

If a tenant disagrees with the Rule for Possession and wishes to appeal the complaint, they must file a written answer that dictates why they disagree.

During the hearing, the responsibility of proving the eviction valid falls on the landlord. The landlord needs to support the claim with evidence.

This could include, but is not limited to the following:

• Copy of the deed and lease
• Rent receipts and ledgers
• Bank statements
• Witnesses
• Photo and video documentation of the violations, correspondence, etc.

3. Timeline

The hearing happens at least 3 days after the documents are served to the tenant.

Getting Possession

4. After the landlord wins the case

Provided that the tenant does not appeal for reconsideration, a Writ of Possession is issued no more than a few days after the judgment is received.

The landlord can request for the Writ of Possession to be issued on the day the court issues judgment in their favor.

Move out process

The Writ of Possession informs the tenant that they have 24 hours from the moment it is issued to vacate the premises with their belongings.

Once the 24 hours are up, the sheriff/constable is allowed to remove the tenant by force. If the tenant refuses, the figure of authority has the right to arrest them.

If the tenant leaves behind any belongings, it is the landlord’s responsibility to get rid of them. Louisiana law does not specify what a landlord has to do exactly, but they are advised to take note of what was left behind and look for a place to store the belongings safely.

Then, they can contact the tenant and give them a reasonable timeframe to claim them. After the timeframe has passed, the landlord can sell or dispose of the tenant’s property.

Even if the landlord wins the case, they are not allowed to engage in illegal methods of eviction.

1. Timeline

The tenants have 24 hours upon issuing the writ of possession to move out of the property.

Louisiana Eviction Timeline

Below is the average timeline for a complete eviction process. This timeline does not include special cases such as a request for an appeal or delays in the issuance of a Writ of Possession.

On average, it would take anywhere between 10-42 days for a complete eviction process.

<table style="width:100%"><tr><th>Notice Received by Tenants</th><th>Average Timeline</th><th>Important Things to Remember</th></tr><tr><td>Issuing an Official Notice</td><td>5-30 days </td><td>Give your tenant a written Notice to Vacate prior to the eviction process.</td></tr><tr><td>Issuance and Serving of Rule for Possession</td><td>At least 2 days before the court hearing is scheduled</td><td>Make sure no mistakes were made in the filing process.</td></tr><tr><td>Court Hearing and Judgment</td><td>At least 3 days after the documents are served</td><td>If you win the case, the judge will give you a Judgment of Possession.</td></tr><tr><td>Issuance of Writ of Possession</td><td>A few hours to a few days</td><td>It gives the tenant 24 hours to vacate the property</td></tr><tr><td>Return of Rental Property</td><td>Within 24 hours</td><td>You are not allowed to be the one to evict the tenant by force. Leave that job to the authorized officials.</td></tr></table>

Showing Evidence

1. How to keep good records

If the tenant disagrees with the request to begin an eviction process and they reply to the court, it’s important that you keep extremely good records of everything so you can provide proof to the judge and win your case. This part can make or break your entire eviction request in the event of a dispute.

You can stay organized by:

• Keeping a physical paper trail - This gets VERY hard to search through, takes up a lot of storage space, and could get lost, damaged, stolen, or burnt in a fire.
• Scanning documents - Scan every document into your computer. A great scanner is the Brother ADS-1700W for under $200 or the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1500 for $400.
• Backups - Store and backup every file using Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or any other option that is easily searchable.
• PMS - Use a property management software to save everything from lease agreements, signed documents, violations, emails, notes, invoices, payments, reminders, maintenance requests, pictures, videos, and anything you can imagine. This is used best when you also scan every document into your software.

2. Evidence to show for not paying rent

If the tenant doesn’t pay rent, and they dispute that claim, it’s important that you show the judge the following:

• Your lease agreement - Showing the terms of the agreement, when rent is due, and any penalties for late payment.
• All payments - Showing all previous payments, how they were normally made (check, credit card, ACH, etc…), and what date they were normally paid on.
• Any payment returns - If their check bounced, their bank account had insufficient funds, or they did a chargeback dispute on their credit card, show this to the Judge. Also show any fees your bank may have charged you, and any penalties you are owed according to your lease agreement.
• All messages - If you sent your tenant automated or manual payment reminders by text, email, a letter, or mail, it’s important to show this. While it’s usually not needed, it’s still good to show that they were aware of the situation and were given time to cure and make payment. This is why it’s always best to have everything in writing instead of any phone calls or face-to-face meetings.

3. Evidence to show for lease violations

If you are evicting the tenant for lease violations, for example, noise complaints, unauthorized pets, or property damages, it’s important to show proof from any of the following methods:

• Security Cameras - If you have a surveillance system that can show them committing the crime or lease violation, it’s safe to say you will normally win this dispute.
• Video - If you didn’t catch them in the act, the next best thing is to record a video with your phone of any damages or the lease violation.
• Pictures - They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, a picture could be worth thousands of dollars! Even if you take a video, it’s important to show the Judge any pictures too as it’s usually easier to see by email or printed.
• Lease Terms - Once again, show the court which term they violated in their lease agreement. Don’t worry if you don’t have every single term spelled out in your rental agreement. If the violation is bad enough, it might not be needed to have it written. As a good practice though, start adding all of the potential reasons to evict a tenant into your agreement.